Eileen Ekstrom, Director of Ecosystem Analytics Inc., was selected as the sole technical assessor in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) pilot program on Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). This summer and fall, she will be assessing the six, industry-leading, program operators and organizations that verify and validate EPDs for conformance to ISO 14025 and ISO 14020, along with ISO 21930 for organizations the publish EPDs or verify/validate EPDs of products in the building sector.
As described in the announcement of the pilot program, there are two steps to the program. First, program operators are determined to be eligible for further participation in the ANSI program through a technical assessment of their programs for conformance to ISO 14025, ISO 14020, and, if applicable, ISO 21930, along with ANSI procedures. This is completed through document reviews and a remote, web-interface based, assessment with the program operator and the ANSI assessment team.
Secondly, either program operators or organizations that verify and validate EPDs participate in the second stage of the program in which the organizations are assessed as certification bodies that conduct validation/verification of EPDs. For this step, the organization’s procedures must conform to ISO 14025, ISO 14020, and, if applicable, ISO 21930, along with ISO 17065. ISO 17065 provides requirements that organizations that operate certification programs must follow, covering management systems, contracts, impartiality, and confidentiality, amongst other topics. This is completed though document reviews and an on-site assessment of the organization.